SOS High School Program
New SOS Friends for Life: Preventing Teen Suicide DVD
Watch the Trailer
Screening for Mental Health is proud to announce the release of the new SOS Friends for Life DVD to accompany the award-winning SOS High School program. The DVD features the true stories of three teenagers who all struggled with mental health issues. The video, which is the 2011 recipient of the Aster Award honoring excellence in medical marketing, also showcases vignettes that provide students with simple and specific instructions for how to recognize the signs of distress, in either themselves or a friend, and to respond effectively.
The SOS Signs of Suicide® High School program incorporates peer intervention as part of its implementation strategy. Research indicates that adolescents are more likely to turn to peers than adults when facing a suicidal crisis. By training students to recognize the signs of depression, self-injury, and suicidality and empowering them to intervene when confronted with a friend who is exhibiting these symptoms, SOS capitalizes on an important social/emotional aspect of this developmental period.
The SOS program teaches students that depression is a treatable illness. Through the use of an educational DVD and discussion guide, students are taught that suicide is not a normal response to stress, but rather a preventable tragedy that often occurs as a result of untreated depression. Students are given specific action steps, encouraged to engage in a discussion about these issues with their parents as well as utilize the peer-to-peer help-seeking model known as ACT® (Acknowledge-Care-Tell).
Booster Program
The SOS Signs of Suicide® Booster Program is a “refresher course” for students preparing for life beyond high school, teaching them how to identify and respond to serious depression and potential suicidality in themselves or a friend. The SOS Booster program “graduates” the ACT® acronym to be more relevant for individuals approaching adulthood, replacing the Tell in ACT: Acknowledge, Care, Tell with Treatment—Help the person you are concerned about get to treatment. Lastly, the program familiarizes students with college and community-based mental health services.